Cravings

Craving for sensual pleasure/Craving for being/ Craving for non-being

Craving (tanha) is one of the links in dependent origination and leads to samsara. Craving and ignorance are the two main causes of suffering. In the second noble truth, the cause of suffering is craving: craving for sensual pleasure/life (kamma-tanha)), craving for being (bhava-tanha) and craving for non-being ((vibhava-tanhà/ annihilation).

Craving for sensual pleasure: Craving can be explained as the strong desires that people have for pleasing their senses and for experiencing life itself. Buddhists believe that anything that stimulates our senses or our feelings can lead to craving. (6 senses: sight, sound, taste, smell, touch and mind.) None of the pleasures we crave for ever give us lasting happiness or satisfaction (anicca= impermanence). This is why people can crave to repeat these experiences again and again, and become unhappy and dissatisfied until they can satisfy their craving. But if one gets sick/tired of this craving, he gets unhappy and suffer again.

Craving for being: (bhava-tanhà) is rooted in the belief of a permanent soul, an ego in one’s body, which is termed as eternalism which buddha disagreed with. According to eternalistic view, as soul is imprisoned in the body, one has to be born again and again to practise Holy Life, so that soul should get united forever with the universal soul. 

Craving for non-being (vibhava-tanha) is an annihilationist view which the Buddha did not agree on. These people believe that there is this life only and nothing arises at the end of this life. There is no rebirth and so being are annihilated at death. Such a belief is called "annihilationist view". The craving that goes with this view is called "craving for non-existence/non-being." 

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